Flashers and voyeurs must be punished more harshly, says mum of murdered student Libby Squire

Non-contact sex offences must be punished more harshly because flashers and voyeurs can turn into rapists, the mother of murdered student Libby Squire has said.

Libby, 21, was abducted, raped and murdered while walking home from a club in Hull in 2019.

Her killer, Pawel Relowicz, had committed other sexual crimes in the city’s student area, watching young women through windows and breaking into their homes to steal intimate items.

Libby’s mother, Lisa, told Sky News’ The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee there was “quite clearly an escalation from the lower sort of crimes, right up until the weekend before he killed her, where he had escalated quite significantly”.

Relowicz exposed himself to Libby just weeks before killing her, Mrs Squire believes.

She is now urging women to report non-contact offences, because that is the “only way we can spot them”.

“Reporting is a massive part of it,” she said. “And actually then taking action – the police taking action.”

‘Normal men don’t do these things’

Mrs Squire added: “You’re not making something out of nothing. It’s not normal behaviour. Normal men don’t do these things.

“It really is a big deal – the term lower-level sex offences diminishes it. They are sex offences. We need to completely change the way we look at these things and our attitudes towards them.”

Speaking to MPs, Mrs Squire said sentencing needs to be harsher.

“It’s a slap on the wrist for the majority of people if they’re caught,” she said. “It needs to be taken as the really serious offence it is.

“A short sharp slap is not going to work.”

Lead UK news presenter

We need to talk about non-contact sexual assault.

Chances are if you are a woman and you have clicked on this article it’s happened to you.

It’s happened to me and I didn’t report it – chances are, neither did you.

This is what Libby Squire’s mum Lisa is determined to change.

Reporting non-contact sexual offences – whether it’s being followed home at night, indecent exposure, or “cyber flashing” – is vital in establishing a pattern of behaviour in perpetrators that may well be the red flags that stop a more serious offence being committed.

It’s important to note that a murder may be rare, compared to the statistics involved in non-contact sexual assault – not all perpetrators go on to commit rape or take a life.

But as Lisa points out, to be aware of patterns of behaviour is a key tool in stopping something more serious before it starts.

To tackle violence against women and girls we all need to call out these behaviours, report them, change attitudes and treat them not as “low level” offences but as offences.

‘I don’t think he should ever get out of prison’

Mrs Squire told Sky News her daughter’s killer, who was given a minimum term of 27 years, should never get out of prison.

“Originally, I wasn’t really bothered about the sentence,” she said. “That’s definitely changed now. I don’t think he should ever get out of prison.

“When he comes out, he’ll be in his early fifties. He’ll have the chance to travel, to maybe marry again, to have children, to have a job.

“He can do all those things that Libby never had the chance to do.

“Everybody knows you don’t kill. You don’t do that. So if you do that to me, you should then forfeit your life by spending the rest of it in prison.”

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Mrs Squire also believes that Relowicz may offend again, if and when he is released – after being incarcerated with other sex offenders.

“His life will be all about sex offences and I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t come out and re-offend,” she said.

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